Android app creation made simple, google introduces the App Inventor, an App that let you create apps without programming knowledge.

To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app's behavior.

App Inventor is simple to use, but also very powerful. Apps you build can even store data created by users in a database, so you can create a make-a-quiz app in which the teachers can save questions in a quiz for their students to answer.

Here are some sample apps that were created using App inventor: http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/learn/gallery.html

A 60 second video showing an app being made with App inventor for Android below

I know this won't be long until someone get a crack at the HTC Evo 4G, you've guessed, un-released google android 2.2 named Froyo running on the HTC Evo 4G, now the instructions have not been posted yet, we do have a video showing you if you don't believe it.

This video was found over at Xda-Developer forum.  The hacker promised more details in the coming day, so we will keep an eye on it for you.

HTC Evo 4g is root more details and links coming in the next few days. Just working out the details and making it easy for everyone.

massive thanx to maejrep, for working with me on this.

Current status:

• Has su permissions
  
• Able to run a custom recovery
  
• Able to write to partitions
  
• Able to flash signed and unsigned update.zips
  
• Able to run froyo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

link to youtube video below :

Via

AndroidSpin actually confirmed on its site that myTouch 3G Slide will be getting the all new Android 2.2 Froyo when it's release next week.

Confirmed by HTC

if your phone was launched this year, we will most likely offer an upgrade for it to the Froyo version. This includes popular models like the Desire and Droid Incredible as well as hotly anticipated phones like the Evo 4G, MyTouch slide and upcoming models. We will announce a full list of phones and dates once we are closer to launching the upgrades. We are working closely with Google and our other partners to ensure we have the earliest access to everything we need to provide a complete and solid Sense experience on Froyo. We expect to release all updates in the second half of this year but can't be more specific yet.

The myTouch 3G Slide is T-Mobile USA's sixth Android smartphone, featuring a HVGA touchscreen display, full QWERTY keyboard, Swype, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 5MP camera. The handset will be sold for $179.99 with a 2-yr contract agreement.

source: androidspin

I'm sure a lot of people have heard this but if yo just google "sprint android 2.2" you'll see a whole slew of mobile media sites with the same announcement; that sprint has said that the EVO wil be getting 2.2 in the "near future" not a lot of other details were mentioned but hopefully a timeline will be coming soon...

As work on finalizing the software is under way, Sprint expects to launch Android 2.2 in the near future.

Sorry for any confusion created when we initially made this announcement. HTC EVO 4G will receive the 2.2 update, Samsung Moment and HTC Hero will not. Future devices launching with 2.1 also will be updated to 2.2

With the Android 2.2 upgrade, customers can expect improvements to include the following benefits: updates to user interface, improved EAS Support, improved browser performance, including Flash 10x Support, voice dialing over Bluetooth and application storage on external memory.

source: HTC Evo 4G Forum

Mobilesyrup has confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy will be coming to Bell canada.  Lucky canadians...  If you're not familiar with the Samsung Galaxy, you should check out http://www.Samsung-Galaxy.com

The first Android device in the Bell line up - and the thinnest available in the market - Galaxy comes fully loaded with an array of multimedia features. The advanced 3.2″ AMOLED display provides unmatched luminescence and vivid eye catching colours, even in direct sunlight or at an angle. Android OS syncs e-mails, including Gmail, contact, calendar, and more in real time. Google apps and search offer intuitive entertainment and Galaxy always keeps the conversation going with Google Talk."

Thanks MobileSyrup for the news

From time to time, we all need information about local businesses when we're away from our computers -- like confirming the address of a bar while on the way to meet friends. Today we're introducing Search with My Location, a new way to make searching for nearby businesses on your Windows Mobile phone faster and easier.

Previously, when you went to google.com from your phone's browser and performed a local search, the results were tailored to the last location you entered. Now, using the Gears Geolocation API, Search with My Location approximates your actual location using the same Cell ID technology used by Google maps for mobile. So if you want to find sushi nearby, just type "sushi" and Google will return local business listings around you. If you want to know the forecast, type "weather". If you want to search somewhere else, specify a location in the query like "pizza Kansas City".

We take your privacy seriously and have designed Search with My Location so that it doesn't associate your location with any personally identifiable information, even if you are logged in. We won't send your location until you explicitly opt in, and you can always opt-out from the Gears Settings under the Tools menu.

Note that some devices don't yet support My Location. For this reason, we're initially launching the feature on the devices listed in this help center article while we work with manufacturers to add support to future phone versions.

Initially, Search with My Location will be available in the US and UK. To get started, visit google.com from your phone and click on the My Location link under the search box (you may have to refresh the page to see the link). Enjoy the new feature and check out the video to see how Search with My Location can help save your thumbs!

Source: Google API

This is exciting.  If you one of the few that never heard about Mint.com you should go check it out.  I am a frequently Mint.com user.  It's a free site that manages your everyday finances.  You can link all your banking and credit accounts into mint.com and it will help you manage them in a nice orderly way.  You can setup alerts like over spending and under spending. etc etc.

Well, mint.com will be coming out with the Android app that could make it even easily to manage your finance through your android devices.  It's rumored to be release Feb of 2010.   I can't wait.!!!

according to research from comScore and Compete, that 37% of US mobile users had heard of Android in November 2009. This was up from 22% as recently as August, likely due to the Verizon Droid ad campaign.

And 17% of mobile users in the market for a new smartphone in the next three months planned to buy an Android phone, compared with 20% who would pick up an iPhone.

Usage patterns for Android and iPhone owners were very similar, and tended to differ from those of other smartphone users as well as from those of feature phone owners.

via: mashable

NYtimes.com Article By MIGUEL HELFT Published: January 5, 2010

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google stepped up its attack on the mobile phone industry on Tuesday, introducing a new touchscreen phone called Nexus One to compete with the iPhone.

The device, which was built by HTC, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, has a 3.7-inch screen and runs the latest version of Google's Android operating system. It is just 11.5 millimeters thin, or about the thickness of a No. 2 pencil, and weighs 130 grams, or no more than a small Swiss Army knife, said Erick Tseng, a senior product manager. It has a 5-megapixel camera and an LED flash and can shoot both still images and video.

"The Nexus One is an exemplar of what is possible with Android on mobile phones," Mario Queiroz, a vice president for product management at Google, said during a news conference at Google's headquarters here.

Read the rest of the article at NYTimes.com

Android device owners probably really excited to hear that Android Chief Any Rubin has spoken out regarding to Android updates.

Andy Rubin's statements

...Our product cycle is now, basically twice a year, and it will probably end up being once a year when things start settling down, because a platform that's moving - it's hard for developers to keep up. I want developers to basically leverage the innovation. I don't want developers to have to predict the innovation.

..We're at about 4 billion cell phones. About 1.4 billion Internet connected PCs - that includes desktop and laptops and everything else. Like 1.2 billion automobiles. Some 800 million TVs. And it's like, "OK, let's target the top four." Let's do everything we can to get the big ones. Remember, our business is volume, because it's an advertising business and we want to delight a lot of people. And how do you delight a lot of people? You get in the products that they use every day.

This is actually comparable to the iPhone updates, which's also once a year, but what's good about Android is that, since it's open source, the Handset Manufacturers are free to push out new phones that has the latest and great Android updates.  Doesn't have to be locked down like the iPhones.

source: techcrunch

During Google I/O conference in San Francisco this week, it announces Android 2.2 which it said is right around the corner.  One of the most important features of the Android 2.2 is the ability to tether.  The latest Android 2.2 "Froyo" update allows the user to set up WiFi or USB tethering for other devices on the fly. This means that Android users could potentially do things like connect a WiFi-only Apple Inc. iPad to a 3G network via an Android phone. Google is calling this feature "a portable hotspot."

iPhone users have been long waiting for tethering features to be added to that operating system. Word is that the OS 4.0 update coming in June from Apple will finally add the feature.

Here are some of the great features provided by Android 2.2

Performance & speed: The new Dalvik JIT compiler in Android 2.2 delivers between a 2-5X performance improvement in CPU-bound code vs. Android 2.1 according to various benchmarks.

New enterprise capabilities: We've added Exchange capabilities such as account auto-discovery and calendar sync. Device policy management APIs allow developers to write applications that can control security features of the device such as the remote wipe, minimum password, lockscreen timeout etc.

Faster, more powerful browser: We have brought the V8 JavaScript engine to the Android browser as part of 2.2. This has resulted in a 2-3X improvement in JavaScript performance vs. 2.1.

Rich set of new APIs and services: New data backup APIs enable apps to participate in data backup and restore, allowing an application's last data to be restored when installed on a new or a reset device. Apps can utilize Android Cloud to Device Messaging to enable mobile alert, send to phone, and two-way push sync functionality. Developers can now declare whether their app should be installed on internal memory or an SD card. They can also let the system automatically determine the install location. On the native side, a new API now gives access to Skia bitmaps.

Additions to Android Market: Android Market provides Android Application Error Reports, a new bug reporting feature, giving developers access to crash and freeze reports from users. Developers will be able to access these reports via their account on the Android Market publisher website.

Head over to Google's Blog for complete list of new features.

http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html#UserFeatures

Great news for the semi popular Google Nexus One, since it's google's flagship device, there's not doubt they will be releasing the android 2.2 (froyo) update to its own phones first.

From Google's Blog:

Starting today, Nexus One users will begin to receive the Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features including support for making your handset a portable hotspot and support for Adobe Flash within the browser. For a complete list of everything we've included in Android 2.2, please see the Android 2.2 Platform Highlights.

In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone's notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set. This update will be rolled out gradually to phones - and most users will receive the notification by the end of the week . We hope you enjoy these new features.

source: google blog

Nice idea.  Next time you are in Town, and you got a great parking spot, but since you are leaving, why not save the spot for your fellow android device owners, by using this Open Spot app by Google

Open Spot works by letting people who are leaving parking spots share their spots with people who are searching for parking.

Start helping others find parking, and together we'll all save time, save gas, and reduce pollution. Like to keep score? The more open spots you mark, the more parking 'karma points' you'll get.

Couple of Frequently Asked Questions

* How large an area will Open Spot show me available parking for?

Open Spot will show you parking spots located within a ~1.5 kilometer (km) / ~.9 mile (mi) radius of your location. As you move, Open Spot will automatically refresh to show you parking spots within a ~1.5 km / ~.9 radius of where you currently are.

* How long are marked spots displayed in Open Spot?

Spots are removed from the map after 20 minutes. We know that 20 minutes is a long time for a parking spot to stay open, but we think that more information about available parking is better than less.

check it out folks, and download this cool app for android

In accordance to information gathered through AndroLib, Google android users have downloaded more than one billion applications. That's an amazing quantity, though this is actually an estimation and also hasn't been verified by Google.

What is not apparent is whether that is 1 billion distinctive applications that have already been downloaded, or if that consists of application revisions. For example, I have updated several of my Google android applications more than 10 instances within the previous year or so. Did those count as one or 10 downloads? AndroLib doesn't say.

One billion downloads is still a lot of activity. According to AndroLib's charts, the rate of downloads is increasing rapidly. It has a real-time view of the number of downloads, and that number has climbed by more than 100,000 downloads in the time it took me to write this post.

According to the stats. 61.4% of the apps are free. But with Google activating 66,000 new Android phones daily, and with the excitement created by the sold out Motorola DROID X, developers are set to create many more apps for Google's open source OS. Android is definitely catching up to the Apple App downloads.

via: androidlib

Yes, you heard that right, Sprint is planning to release the Android 2.2 so call Froyo in the near feature. I expected to have to wait until September for the EVO upgrade. I assume "near future" will be July/August??

Here's the statement posted on Sprint's community forum by a Sprint Employee:

As work on finalizing the software is under way, Sprint expects to launch Android 2.2 in the near future. It also will be available as an upgrade on the recently launched HTC EVO 4G.

With the Android 2.2 upgrade, customers can expect improvements to include the following benefits: updates to user interface, improved EAS Support, improved browser performance, including Flash 10x Support, voice dialing over Bluetooth and application storage on external memory.

When someone asked if Android 2.2 will be on HTC Hero or Samsung Moment, this is the response given by the Sprint Employee:

No, it will not. 2.2 will not be available for HTC Hero or Samsung Moment

source: Sprint Community

Not everyday you'll see a service provider giving you a training session on a smartphone device.  Well Verizon has just step and start offering training class to better use your Palm and Android devices including the Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Motorola Droid, Motorola Devour, HTC droid Eris and HTC droid incredible.

You can register the sessions using the link below, note, these classes are available to the first 20 customers per event based on a first come first serve basis.

https://email.vzwshop.com/servlet/formlink/f?NFOQYABB&

source: phandroid